Word family noun worth worthlessness worthy unworthiness adjective worth worthless worthwhile worthy ≠ unworthy
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishworthywor‧thy1 /ˈwɜːði $ ˈwɜːrði/ ●●○ adjective 1 [only before noun]GOOD/MORAL deserving respect from people Leeds United were worthy winners of the competition. a worthy opponent2 → be worthy of something3 → be worthy of somebody4 → I’m/We’re not worthy5 BORINGGOOD/MORAL formal trying to help other people The money will go to a worthy cause. I’m sure his motives were worthy.Examples from the Corpus
worthy• Brodkey's book is worthy bedtime reading.• To me, this would seem to be a worthy object of the game.• His manual was a contribution to that worthy objective.• But his matchwinner ten minutes from time was worthy of any international striker.• Other strategies are worthy of note.• Roper, who is as sharp with a put-down as he is with a knockdown, has run out of worthy opponents.worthyworthy2 noun (plural worthies) [countable] informalIMPORTANT someone who is important and should be respected We were met by a group of local worthies.Examples from the Corpus
worthy• Rutledge definitely has a place among other American worthies.• He sold it to worthies around the hills. 